Just got word from the National Association of Realtors on key legislation affecting home sellers and investors:

“The package of tax extensions approved by the U.S. House and Senate, and headed to the President’s desk for signature, includes important provisions that will help distressed homeowners and commercial property investors with transactions made during 2014. NAR applauds Congressional leaders in both chambers for their effort to pass this legislation before adjournment.

“Realtors® strongly supported the bipartisan Mortgage Forgiveness Tax Relief Act, which was included in the package to prevent underwater borrowers from paying taxes on any mortgage debt forgiven or cancelled by a lender in a workout or after their home was sold for less money than was owed. We are grateful to Sens. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Dean Heller, R-Nev., and Reps. Tom Reed, R-N.Y., and Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., for championing the provision.

“The legislation also includes one-year extensions of the 15-year depreciation schedule for leasehold improvements and the deduction for improvements to energy efficient commercial buildings.”

o A great way to break up a day of downtown holiday shopping: more than 225 tubas perform jolly songs in the Square for free. www.bemerrydowntown.org

• Crafty Wonderland’s Super Colossal Holiday Sale – 13-14

o Local creativity will blow your mind at this artisanal shopping experience. Free admission and tons of gift ideas. www.craftywonderland.com

• Christmas in Dairyville – 12-14

o This complete Christmas town comes with vintage storefronts, holiday scenes replete with live animals, and 300+ decorated trees. Stroll down Storybook Lane, take in a holiday movie, and visit with Santa. www.alpenrose.com

Nevermind all the pure joy of living in your own home, where you can decide what color to paint the kids' rooms and what to plant in the yard and hang on the walls in the kitchen and on and on… Harvard researchers point out five purely FINANCIAL REASONS to own a home.

Eric Belsky is Managing Director of the Joint Center of Housing Studies at Harvard University. He also currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Housing Researchand Housing Policy Debate. Last year, he released a paper on homeownership – The Dream Lives On: the Future of Homeownership in America. In his paper, Belsky reveals five financial reasons people should consider buying a home.

Here are the five reasons, each followed by an excerpt from the study:

1.) Housing is typically the one leveraged investment available.

“Few households are interested in borrowing money to buy stocks and bonds and few lenders are willing to lend them the money. As a result, homeownership allows households to amplify any appreciation on the value of their homes by a leverage factor. Even a hefty 20 percent down payment results in a leverage factor of five so that every percentage point rise in the value of the home is a 5 percent return on their equity. With many buyers putting 10 percent or less down, their leverage factor is 10 or more.”

2.) You're paying for housing whether you own or rent.

“Homeowners pay debt service to pay down their own principal while households that rent pay down the principal of a landlord.”

3.) Owning is usually a form of “forced savings”.

“Since many people have trouble saving and have to make a housing payment one way or the other, owning a home can overcome people’s tendency to defer savings to another day.”

4.) There are substantial tax benefits to owning.

“Homeowners are able to deduct mortgage interest and property taxes from income…On top of all this, capital gains up to $250,000 are excluded from income for single filers and up to $500,000 for married couples if they sell their homes for a gain.”

5.) Owning is a hedge against inflation.

“Housing costs and rents have tended over most time periods to go up at or higher than the rate of inflation, making owning an attractive proposition.”

Bottom Line

We realize that homeownership makes sense for many Americans for an assortment of social and family reasons. It also makes sense financially.

According to HSH.com it takes $60,307 income to qualify to buy a median price ($271,900) home in Portland.

If you don't make that much, don't give up on home ownership. First that's a broad brush using national figures for interest rates and other things. Working with a good local mortgage broker (ask me for a recommendation) can probably improve on that. Second, there are a lot of nice homes for less than the median price (Median is just the number for which half the home sales are more, half are less).

As I write this (May 28) there are 26 3-bedroom Portland homes for sale priced between $190,000 and $200,000. What income is required to buy one of those? Did I say I could recommend a top notch mortgage broker?

To see what's available in Portland in any price range just let me know your price range and I'll send you the listings right away. Want to know how much home you can buy on your present income? Did I say I could recommend a top notch mortgage broker?

Want to know how Portland compares to 26 other metropolitan areas? Click here

In the "Property Search" tab on my web site you can search homes by Portland Neighborhod and now you can also search by drive time. Enter your work address and desired drive time along with other requirements (price range, # of BR, BA, etc) and you'll see all the homes for sale that meet your criteria within that drive time range. Or if you'd rather, let me know and I'll be happy to do the search for you.

In proverbial "round numbers", mortgage payments on the average home in Portland next year will be about $200/month more than today if this forecast increase in mortgage rates is correct. (To check the forecasting accuracy of these sources, I looked up their January 2012 forecast for January 2013 – they were within 0.2 of today's average rates.

That's to buy at the same price. If home prices go up 5-6% as predicted, it's even more.

To go beyond "round numbers" and see what it would cost you to buy that real Portland-area house you want today, I can introduce you to a good mortgage broker. Between the two of us, you can see real numbers and real homes for you. Call or text me at 503-505-9722 or @DaveSuttonHomes